PROJECT 37 A TEST OF TIME

Having got his head around the standard bike at Cadwell, Timmy heads to Powerslide Motorcycles with a wish list of improvements for the Suzuki GSX-8R...

- TIMMY

As far as first impressions go, I was chuffed with the Suzuki GSX-8R after our Cadwell Park outing a few weeks back, and with a target lap time of one min 37, the goal was challenging yet realistic, given the spec of the machine. It wasn't until I got home and watched the GoPro footage back that I realised I was a whopping eight seconds away from where we wanted to be! What was I playing at? Had the Suzuki/Fast Bikes duo bitten off more than it could chew? I was beginning to wonder.

If you read part one of the project in last month's issue, you'll have seen my lovely list of excuses. If you didn't, then here is a handful of the big ones as to why I was so far off... at least that's what I'm going with for now, anyway.

The footpegs dragging on every single corner was probably the most unnerving limitation I ran into with the standard road bike, followed closely by the soft suspension setting which meant I couldn't get through the bends how I wanted and hold the corner speed, and finally the ABS interference during heavy braking. Add these together and you're left with a bike that's maybe not quite as sorted for a lap record attack as I'd have hoped for.

I suppose now is a good time to whack in the disclaimer. This is a standard road bike, built for comfort and performance on the road, and Suzuki has nailed that with the 8R (I love a comfy bike!). However, we like going fast here at Fast Bikes, so we thought it would be a great idea to challenge this new model for a lap record and see how far we could push things... here goes nothing.